Avery v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is well established that a nonexpert witness may testify as to the sanity of a defendant if a proper foundation is laid; however, the trial court should exclude the opinion testimony of a nonexpert witness whose association with the accused and opportunities for observation for a sufficient length of time are not adequately shown. (Citations omitted.)The trial judge will be reversed only if he has abused his discretion in passing upon the preliminary question of competency. . . . Here, Dr. Avery, [cousin of appellant and a general practitioner who was presented as a nonexpert witness] observed the appellant one time, the night of November 7, 1978, when appellant was committed to the state hospital. The next time he saw appellant was a year later or on the date of the alleged offense when he was examining appellant’s father in the hospital. While appellant was in jail, he talked to him by phone and prescribed medication for his nerves. Dr. Avery did not consider the telephone call or the brief contact at the hospital to be examinations. We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding the opinion of the nonexpert witness.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hall v. State